


Something Missing

by mittamoo



Series: Sapphic Bartle au [1]
Category: Emmerdale
Genre: Family Bonding, Gen, Piercings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-05
Updated: 2017-07-05
Packaged: 2018-11-23 16:03:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 730
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11405805
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mittamoo/pseuds/mittamoo
Summary: Although she's never been more relieved to have her family's acceptance, Abi doesn't quite feel like a part of the family yet





	Something Missing

**Author's Note:**

> Written for a prompt by lesbianchrissie: something with Abi and Charity like aunt/niece bonding

It’s been a few weeks since the truth came spilling out of Abi’s mouth, in the end the truth wasn’t nearly as damning as she had feared. She doesn’t think she’s ever been more relived in her life, there was no shouting, there was none of the hatred and rejection that she had so massively feared. In the end there had been little more than a few awkward looks, followed by strong, unwavering acceptance. Another thing she hadn’t expected was their protectiveness of her, she’d always know that the Dingles took care of their own, she just never considered that the Dingles considered her one of their own as well.

She’s got work at the garage, it’s not like she doesn’t enjoy being a mechanic, she does, she likes being able to use her hands to fix things instead of destroy everything around her like she tends to do. So it’s not that she doesn’t like the work, it’s the still stilted atmosphere that seems to have fallen over the garage as she works there now, she hopes that eventually they’ll be able to settle into the same working pattern as before but for now, work is uncomfortable to say the least. The discomfort in the air seems to increase further as Charity approaches the garage.

“What do you want?” Cain, his manners are almost as good as Abi’s

“Actually, _I_ am here for Abigail, you can spare her for a while can’t you?” her tone is sickly sweet and for some reason makes her more than a little nervous of what’s to come.

The unease only grows as Cain nods his head and waves her off in Charity’s direction. Her mind runs through every possible situation she can think of as to why Charity would want her, not a single one of them is good. Mostly she’s afraid that Charity is going to reveal that the support she’s had has all been a huge lie and that she’s about the get it ripped away from her.

“So” she announces, swinging an arm over her shoulder, “It has come to my attention that you my girl are missing something”

Abi isn’t entirely sure what she’s on about. She doesn’t have a clue what Charity means by missing something, aside the obvious but Abi is almost certain that that’s not what she’s talking about. So instead of offering any kind of answer Abi just looks at her.

“Earrings! You don’t have Earrings” She continues, apparently deciding to put Abi out of her misery, “Now, we could go into town and pay to get it done there. Or you could let me do it for free”

“You what?” This, this is not what she was expecting at all.

“It’ll be fine! Just clean the needle then stick it through your ear, what’s so hard about that?”

When it’s put like that, it really doesn’t seem hard at all, so Abi lets herself be pulled through the village and in through the front door of the house. She watches as charity grabs some things off of the side, a needle, some salt and a pair of earrings. Leaning against the frame of the door she watches as Charity boils the kettle, pours the water out into a bowl then dumps in the salt, needle, and earrings. She lets them sit for a few moments before grabbing Abi’s arm and pulling her to sit on the counter. The needle stings as it goes through her ear and the puncture aches as the needle is dragged back out. The earrings that are pushed through the holes after the needle are nothing special to look at, they’re just plain silver ball studs but Abi loves them all there same.

“There!” She exclaims when she pushed the back of the second earring into place “You’re a proper Dingle Lady now.”

The words make a warmth settle in Abi’s chest that stays with her through the rest of the day, through the good-natured teasing at the garage that would usually set her on edge despite it not having any real intent. It stayed even when she saw Chas and when she got home and saw Paddy even though they both certainly had something to say about the piercings, she didn’t care at all. In the end the lectures didn’t matter because she was a proper Dingle lady now.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! feedback is always welcome :)


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